Cooking Light's Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

Helloooo! Long time no blog. Sorry about that! Things are really becoming crazy as the end of my LAST semester of grad school nears....won't be long now 'til I'm done though! I have actually baked a few items lately but just haven't had the time to blog. I just had my third to last class of the semester this evening, so I'm "celebrating" by taking a break to share a delicious recipe with YOU. ;-)

Cooking Light's Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread. Is it really a Cooking Light recipe? Yes! And it is sooo yummy. I have been making this bread for a few years now, and it is always a hit with those who try it. It's easy too! The only "abnormal" ingredient isn't even really all that abnormal. Since it's a healthier recipe, it calls for egg substitute instead of real eggs. So if you don't typically have egg substitute on hand, you may need to make a quick trip to the store to get some. Or, you can just use real eggs, if you'd rather! Of course, that lessens the healthy factor a bit, but it's just as easy to use eggs too (1/2 cup of egg substitute = 2 large eggs). 

Onto the recipe! Check it out here. As you can see, people have rated it "outstanding." I would agree! The recipe calls for low-fat yogurt; in the past, I have used different brands and flavors, although the most common one I've used is Dannon Light n' Fit vanilla. I have also used banana flavored yogurt! I am not sure that it necessarily lends more banana flavor to the bread, but I like to think it does. ;-)

You're wanting pictures now, I just know it! So, here you go:

I used my frozen banana trick (just freeze ripe bananas if you're not ready to bake with them when they're ripe n' ready - then use them later!).

Here are the wet ingredients; they don't look too aPEELing by themselves, do they? (yes, I know that was spelled incorrectly but get it? PEEL? banana peel?)

Now, these next pictures I am including just because I think the sequence of melting the chocolate is fun! It's the little things in life...

You may be wondering how to make the bread "marbled." Well, why don't I show you?

The recipe itself details this as well, but essentially, all you have to do is take about a cup of the banana bread batter and mix the melted chocolate chips into the batter. That leaves you with some chocolate batter and some regular batter.

Next, just alternate adding the two batters to your baking pan, and then swirl them together!

Here's the mini loaf I made - love how you can see the swirls in the top of the loaf!

Mmmmm, delicious! The combination of chocolate and banana is a great combo anyway, but when you put the two flavors in a healthy bread, that's kicking it up a notch, I'd say! This bread is incredibly tasty and moist (and moistness is a quality I always desire in my quick breads), and I'd highly recommend that you make it the next time you have ripe bananas. ;-)

Enjoy, friends!